Monterey County Herald, CA April 12, 2000Man found killed
Co-worker discovered Prunedale resident, 52, dead at home
By Virginia Hennessey / Herald staff writer
A Prunedale man found dead in his home Monday was the victim of a homicide, sheriff’s deputies said Tuesday. The body of Arthur Joseph Vieira , 52, was discovered in his Cross Road home Monday afternoon by a co-worker who was concerned that he hadn’t shown up for work, according to Sheriff’s Deputy Bill Cassara. Unsure if Vieira was unconscious or dead, the friend called 911, and both fire and sheriff’s personnel responed to the scene. Cassara said an autopsy conducted Tuesday confirmed that Vieira was the victim of a homicide, although the sheriff’s spokesman declined to discuss the apparent cause of death or what injuries, if any, Vieira had. “The victim did not show up to work, which caused concern. Someone went to check and he was found,” said Cassara. The deputy said the homicide does not appear to be gang- or drug-related, though toxicology tests are underway. “We’re not sure what the motive is,” he said, adding that some of Vieira’s co-workers have led sheriff’s investigators to believe “it all kind of wraps around his work.” Cassara declined to disclose Vieira’s place of employment. He said he did not live alone in the house in the 17800 block of Cross Road, but declined to specify who else lived there. A woman who identified herself as Vieira’s mother answered the telephone at the house Tuesday. However, she said she had been given few details about her son’s killing. “I’m his mother and they’re not telling me anything,” she said, adding that she did not believe her son’

Monterey County Herald, CA April 13, 2000Mystery surrounds murder of prominent cattle-roper
By M. Cristina Medina / Herald Staff writer
Arthur “Artie” Vieira had a full calendar of roping events this month. Today, the Prunedale man was scheduled to join his cattle-roping partner for a competition in Chowchilla. Last Saturday he was expected to show up at his sister’s Gilroy arena, where he was to have kept time as a flagger for is steer-roping friends. Vieira didn’t keep any of his engagements. He was killed sometime over the weekend, in what appears to have been a burglary of his Cross Road home. Deputy Bill Cassara, spokesman for the Monterey County Sheriff’s department, said Wednesday that investigators are holding onto details of the murder, including exactly what injuries Vieira suffered, because they want the killer, if arrested, to recount what happened during a confrontation with Vieira. “The killer has details that only they know – we’re not going to comment until someone is arrested,” Cassara said. Investigators found Vieira’s newer-model Ford truck abandoned along a road in San Benito County on Monday – the same day a co-worker, checking on why Vieira didn’t make it to work, found him dead. Cassara would not say what condition the vehicle was found in or elaborate on any clues involving the truck. Vieira, 52, was well-known as a stead winner and a champion “healer,” one who ropes the hind feet of 400- to 600-pound cattle during competitions. He competed at least three times a month, his partner Patty Hunnicutt said, and he was a state champion who regularly competed in national finals of the American Cowboys Team Roping Association. Hunnicutt said she and her husband, Larry, knew “Artie” for more than 35 years. The couple operate an arena in Ceres where Vieira would park his truck and spend the weekends amid the rustic cowboy lifestyle. Hunnicutt said friends and family are at a loss to know who would have wanted to kill Vieira. One theory involves Vieira’s nearly new, beige truck, with an extended cab. The truck, she said, was top-of-the-line; Vieira used it to haul a trailer that housed his palomino. Hunnicutt believes her partner may have been killed by someone trying to take the truck. “He would have fought to the death with them if they tried to rob him of his truck, but he’s the kind of guy that if someone asked to borrow it, he would’ve let a stranger borrow it,” said Hunnicutt, who last saw her friend two Sundays ago. With little information from authorities to go on, friends are piecing together what may have occurred in Vieira’s last days. Hunnicutt said that when Vieira failed to show up for the Gilroy event, friends thought he might have left town over the weekend. But one friend remembers seeing an odd sight Friday night: Vieira’s truck was not parked outside his home, but his horse and trailer were left behind. “We think we [sic] have been killed Friday or even earlier,” Hunnicutt said. “We are all puzzled and dismayed, and frankly we can’t believe that he’s gone. I feel like he’s going to drive up any day now and everything will be like it was.”